Vanessa Beecroft

For the first time in Spain, CAC Málaga hosts a show by Vanessa Beecroft, VB53, featuring a series of photographs of women who are completely silent, doing nothing, giving away nothing of their personal histories. These images, clearly of classical inspiration, evoking religious icons, transmit a powerful sensation of evanescence and timelessness.

These women wear just sandals, wigs and false eyelashes. They are portrayed in the photographs as just another artistic element, far removed from the reality that surrounds them. This distancing from context is further reinforced by the accessories the women wear, which are, to quote Vanessa Beecroft herself, designed "to make them look more like a drawing". But the peculiarity of this nude work is that the models (not all of them professionals) pose as if they were dressed, challenging viewers to the point where they are the ones that feel observed and intimidated.

In each of these pieces, which call to mind the figure of Mary Magdalene, the colour of the naked female bodies is seen in juxtaposition to that of the earth, and its texture, further heightening the sense of ambiguity and provocation that the images transmit.

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Vanessa Beecroft
VB53